Changing of the guard
Former police chief leaves modernized department
By Susan Nienow CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Baker

Chesterfield's police chief since 1996, Col. Carl Baker is retiring after 38 years of law enforcement service in New York and Virginia. Though his retirement isn't official until Aug. 1, Baker is using accrued leave this month before launching his own business, Public Safety Consulting. He will also serve as vice president of East Coast operations for American Homeland Solutions, a consulting company that provides public safety threat assessments.

Baker is leaving Chesterfield with a professional, modern police department that grew from 346 sworn officers in 1996 to today's authorized strength of 505 officers. (Due to recruiting difficulties, the county only currently employs 470 officers.) To keep pace with the growth in the county, Baker recently received approval from the Board of Supervisors to increase its authorized strength by 20 officers.

During his tenure, Baker reorganized the department into four bureaus, which outlined career paths for employees and resulted in a fully-qualified pool of internal candidates who sought the position of police chief after he announced his retirement. The transition for the county's new police chief, Thierry Dupuis, will be smoother since he was promoted from within, noted Baker.

Other accomplishments include opening community police offices throughout the county and implementing citizen-friendly programs such as Motorist Assistance and the law enforcement cadet program at the Chesterfield Technical Center.

"The telling result is the clearance rates that went from about 20 percent when Baker came to about 50 percent now. Other jurisdictions similar to ours are about 25 percent," said County Administrator Lane Ramsey.

Though he leaves behind a record of advances in technology, training, community programs and awards, Baker acknowledged that some problems are ongoing. Though the last census indicated the Hispanic population in Chesterfield was 13,000, Baker estimates that it is closer to 30,000. "We're watching it very closely. We are starting to get some Hispanic gangs and Hispanic-on-Hispanic robberies," he said.

Officer vacancies are a recurring problem, but "we are doing very well," Baker indicated. "There will be a very large class in July, [and] we ought to be at or very close to a full force. We just upped the pay."

The police department has recently been busy with some high profile robberies such as the Oxycontin and Brinks cases, but Baker said he is ready for a lower profile life. He credits the "huge successes" during his time as Chesterfield police chief to team effort.

"The level of professionalism and modernization that Col. Baker leaves as he retires from the Chesterfield County Police Department is unsurpassed anywhere, and the strong reputation of the department around the nation is his legacy," said Ramsey.

Baker is building a house at Smith Mountain Lake and will eventually move there with his wife, Katherine.